Okay, just saying right here that I'm no movie review writer and it's kind of difficult for me to share all my thoughts on the movie without giving anything away, but there are no spoilers in what I'm about to write:
I'll assume that you already know the premise of Into Temptation -- Kristin Chenoweth as Linda, a suicidal prostitute who confesses that she will commit suicide to a catholic priest (Jeremy Sisto, who was sitting across the aisle from me in the theater!) The priest, John, becomes obsessed with preventing Linda from carrying out her plan.
The movie reminds me of an old-fashioned mystery movie set in the current time period as it follows John's quest to find Linda, what with the people he meets and the places he goes as he gathers clues about Linda and her whereabouts. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it had more Kristin! But I understand why it didn't: the audience's glimpses of Linda become longer and more in depth as John learns more about her. The movie is more centered around John, the temptation he faces (his ex-girlfriend returning) and his search for Linda, than it is centered around Linda and her temptation to kill herself.
Kristin's performance in the scenes she is in is phenomenal. I admittedly was a biased audience member as I already had a tremendous amount of respect for Kristin and her talent, but even I was blown away. I expected great, but what I got was beyond that. I expected Kristin to use her lower speaking register for this role, and expected not to hear much of the speaking voice we usually hear from her, but I was wrong. One of Linda's distinguishing characteristics is her distinctive speaking voice, so Kristin was perfect for the role. While I feared that her distinctive voice would take away from the seriousness of her lines (example: "My stepfather raped me when I was 12. I was 13 when I learned to like it") Kristin does an amazing job of delivering potent and heavy lines, in her higher register, in ways that are believable and moving. She proves, with this role, that she is not just some bubbly actress to be typecasted and forever bound to roles similar to those she played in Bewitched, RV, and Deck the Halls-type movies. She proves that she is not only an incredibly talented singer but an incredibly talented actress as well.
I was also blown away by how beautiful she is in this role. There are many close-ups of her face, often without makeup, and if you haven't seen this movie and already think she's gorgeous, wait until you see her up close on a huge screen without makeup. I felt I was seeing her as I never have before: completely natural, completely raw, and so completely beautiful. Every pore and every line of her face is visible and (I'm sure Kristin wouldn't be happy about this) she does, in fact, look her age in this film. But, in my opinion this is the most beautiful I've ever seen her.
And, I have a lot of other things to say concerning the ending of the movie (which I won't say here) as it is definitely an ending that I don't think anyone expects.
Overall the movie is very moving (so moving that it inspired one of the audience members to stand up and give a tearful monologue about loving your daughters so they don't end up like Linda.) Into Temptation the perfect amount of drama, suspense, and humor to make it poignant but not completely depressing, especially depending on how you interpret it.
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